Konstanzia a Cenon

The Lenorë populace was slowly tamed and the Kingdom saw itself
briefly turned into the Providence of Leno under Relén’s son, before the death
of Valén. The newly reformed Kingdom of
Lenorë was given to Cénon an’Laurë, his third son. Under his rule, he attempted to force the transition
from Lenorë to Laurëan and
Palatine culture. He rewarded his loyal
Paladins with holdings and intermarried them with local nobles. This effort continued with mixed success and
the Kingdom eventually came to a crisis, when the Laurëan Kingdoms began to
cannibalize themselves. The houses of
Lenorë all vied for the throne while the King of Calan
sought to add Lenorë
to his list of titles. A rebellion
staged by one of the Lenorë
houses provided the excuse for a Calan invasion. Eventually, the Calan monarch forced the
abdication of the grandson of Cénon an’Laurë and effectively annexed the entire
marcher region under the tyranny of House Arrëd. In his place, his six-year-old daughter was
crowned as Queen, and the King Pelán of Callan sought to eventually marry her
to one of his nobles against her will.
He left a loyal man of an ancient house (House Y’Calínnis) as his regent
and withdrew his troops, sitting back and awaiting his inevitable victory.

Instead, he was faced
with the most competent and intimidating woman in the history of Lenorë: Konstanzá a Cénon.
Konstanzá was a naturally ambitious woman, who barely seemed to
understand that her kingdom had been defeated.
No matter how her regents beat her, she remained utterly cunning and
ambitious, modeling herself after Isella of Old. She was the first of her house to identify
herself as a Lenorë. Her chief weapons were her mind and her
skillful managing of ancient rivalries

She was crowned Queen and
her first year, she acted tame and docile, all while plantingdisgruntled Lenorë rebels in her palace.
It was at her wedding feast, that King Pelán of Laurë learned his
mistake. For at the feast, during the
revels, she hatched her plot. All of
those who were loyal to Pelán were at the tables. When the time came for her bedding, she and
the groom left the chamber and it was at this point that the servants cut the
throats of the guards and took the loyalists hostage. She then released the heads of the family, while
holding their heirs hostage. To these
loyalists, she gave an ultimatum: Surrender their titles willingly or see their
houses dashed to the walls, starting with their heirs. Only one House, House Y’Arrëd, chose to test
her threats. Her threat were not idle,
and the nobles of Lenorë
watched her lead an army of sworn soldiers to his wooden Cal. She hanged his teenage son from a tree
outside the castle and demanded that his men surrender before their lives were
wasted. None dared, confident in their
ability to keep her from taking the fortress.
But they did not know that she had no desire to take the fortress. And so, she set the palisades ablaze, barring
the gates and burning the occupants alive.

There, she sprung her
trap, continuing to obligate the Y’Arrëd’s into staying late into the feast
while the room was gradually cleared, save for the rest of the Marcher
Lords. House Y’Arrëd was left alone with
their hateful subjects, and the doors were locked behind them. There, the Queen requested that both families
abdicate, as they were traitors to her father and as insurance, their heirs
would be held prisoner. Calínnis immediate agreed and left their son. Y’Arrëd
refused and so, as was her right, she revoked the titles of Calarrëd through
the surest means: She stood up and left the Y’Arrëds to their cruel fate at the
hands of their vassals, who tore them limb from limb. Calínnis fled home, and immediately attempted
to advise a second invasion of Lenorë. The King of
Laurë proclaimed him the true king of Lenorë, as Lenorë could not be governed by a woman in his eyes. Calínnis gathered strength in his
holdings. He sought to test her resolve
and he found it to be granite. For she
allowed her new host of disgruntled lords to destroy the fortresses and to
demolish their existences. And before his very eyes, his son was hanged from a
traitor tree. All of the house members
were burned alive inside of their wooden fortress.